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DEVOTED EXCLNSIVELY TO 

►^BEE CULTURE,4^^ 

Is the Recognized Leading Bee-Journal in 
America. 

ONE DOLLAR A YEAR, IN ADVANCE. 

A Sample Copy Free Upon Application, 

The most successful and experienced Bee-Keepers in the World comprise 

its Corps of Contributors, and it is continually advancing progressive 

ideas upon the various topics of modern scientific Bee-Culture. 



PUBLISHED BY 



THOS. G. NEWMAN & SON, 

246 East Madison St., CHICAGO, ILL., 

JOBBERS AND DEALERS IN 

BEE-KEEPERS' SUPPLIES, 

Including Hives, Sections, Honey and Wax 

Extractors, Comb Foundation, Kegs, 

Pails, Seeds, &c. 



Illustrated Catalogue Sent Free upon Application, 



The Bread and Butter Series, 

No. 2. 



APICULTURE: 



The Double-Hive Jon-Swarming System, 



By GEORGE A. STOCKWELL, 



PROVIDENCE, R. I. 



Copyright, 1891. "*"~«— — — — -""^ ^2^^j>/' 



Snow & Farnham, Printers, 

37 Custom House Street. 

1891. 



c^ 






THE BRESD AND BUTTER SERIES. 



If bread may represent what is necessary to life, and butter, the 
surplus, then the two make the goal for which all men and women are 
striving. 

The important factor in effort and accomplishment is economy, not 
only the economy of material wealth and resources, but also, of time, 
and of mental and physical forces. 

Some of the industries referred to in this series, may give profitable 
employment for all time and energy, or they inay be conducted to ad- 
vantage in the interval of other pursuits; and if thej' be made second- 
ary, they supply what every worker must have, if the span of life be 
covered, namely, recreation. Continuous labor, mental or physical, • 
wearies and wears out. Life is prolonged, and made better by a 
change of occupation, even if the interval be bi'ief, for in this interval 
the burden of the mind is lifted, th'e weariness of the body is forgotten, 
and both mind and body, refreshed, return with greater vigor to usual 
occupation. The man who works all day at the anvil, finds only relax- 
ation and pleasure in the hardest toil required in the garden or apiary, 
apd the teacher or accountant goes from the school-room, counting- 
room, fb some outside industry, with eagerness, and delight, even if it 
demand the closest mental application. The burden is shifted, that is 
all, and it is this shifting that repairs, builds up and saves. 

Again, physical inactivity kills, directly or indirectly, many men 
and women. Lives have been prolonged, if not saved, by out-door 
work in some secondary industry, agreeable to the worker. The use 
of the hoe in the garden, in the " rosy morn," is a better tonic than 
that found in a dozen bottles. Man is a gymnasium in himself; he was 
given all the "gymnastic machinery" required at birth. All he has 
to do is to set this machinery in motion. If life be sedentary, and this 
inachinery be employed in a secondary occupation, the profit is found 
not only in good or better health, but also in an increase of bread 
and butter. 

The details given in these papers are founded upon actual experience 
of the writei-s, in other words what is recommended, has been done, 
and found to be practical and profitable. 

The series will include: "Bee-keeping for Women;" "A Bee 
Farm ; " "A One Acre Farm ; " Bees and Poultry; " " How to Keep a 
Horse; " " How to Raise Canaries; " " How to Raise Lettuce in Win- 
ter; " How to Make Hens Lay in Winter; " " Pigeons for Profit." 



THE DODBLE-HIYE, NO^SW/RMlf SYSTEM. 



Bee-keeping is now recognized as an industry worthy 
of the attention of self-supporting men and women. 

The age of conjecture and experiment has passed and 
Bee-keeping has become a definite factor and a helpful 
agent to many in solving the problems of life — the problem 
of the evolution of bread and butter — the problem of 
gaining a living. 

Now, when the industry is established, when there is no 
longer any doubt as to the result of systematic bee-keep- 
ing, the question of method is to be considered. All agree 
that the shortest and easiest road to honey, or its equiva- 
lent, money, is the best. The object of this paper is to set 
forth briefly, yet clearly, the details of a system by which 
it is believed the product of the bees may be greater than 
by any other system. It is founded upon common sense, 
actual experience, and a study of bee ecomomy. 

The "Double-Hive, Non-Swarming System of Bee- 
Keeping" has proved to be more profitable than any other 
system. It makes easier and more satisfactory the man- 
agement of the apiary ; it provides for the concentration 
of labor on the part of both man and bees ; it makes the 
most of the bee-power and drives it to the extreme point of 
utility. 



The system is founded on this principle : that the greater 
the number of laborers, the greater the product. This 
must be admitted as a self-evident truth, except perhaps 
in the case of politicians and office-holders. A man em- 
ploys two men to build a barn. If the two men live long 
enough they will complete the structure, but the farmer 
must have the barn by haying time. What does he do ? 
Does he throw stones at the two men and say that barn 
building is a humbug .'' No, he increases the number of 
workmen. The conditions are similar in the apiary. The 
bee-keeper, with a puny colony of bees, struggling for ex- 
istence in a narrow hive, declares that bee-keeping is a 
snare and delusion. Naturally, he expects the bees to 
supply themselves, with all the workmen they require. 
This they will do if the conditions be favorable, if the 
efforts of the bees be supported by the right " system." 
As bees, subject to man, are no longer in a state of nature, 
the part lacking must be supplied as far as possible by the 
bee-keeper. 

The Hive. 

The hive used in the "Double-Hive, Non-Swarming 
System," is the two-story simplicity hive, or two inter- 
changeable simplicity bodies, one above the other. When 
the growth of the colony demands it, a half-story is inserted 
between the brood chamber and the upper body, giving a 
two and a half story hive. 

The brood chamber contains ten frames of the simplest 
construction, that hang free from tin rabbets. If extra 



honey be the product of the apiary, the second story 
contains ten broad frames. If comb honey be the pro- 
duct, the second story may contain seven broad frames, 
each holding, eight one pound sections. A better arrange- 
ment, however, for the production of comb honey, is made 
by using two half stories, each containing twenty-eight sec- 
tions. As far as the bees and the product is concerned, 
there is no difference between a whole story and two half 
stories, but the latter is more convenient for the bee-keeper. 
In the sections are sheets of foundation, hanging in the 
centre, two-thirds of the depth of the sections. Separators, 
tin is the best, are indispensable. The cover of the hive is 
made of one board nailed at the ends to prevent warping, or 
two boards with the seam between them made water-tight. 
The cover should be made wide enough to extend two or 
three inches over the sides of the hive. The bottom board 
is like the cover, and the two are interchangeable. The 
hive stands upon the bottom board but is not attached 
to it. 

" NON-SWARMTNG." 

As this term is usually a misnomer, it may be con- 
sidered as such here, as artificial swarming is introduced. 
The system herein set forth, however, is, or may be, practi- 
cally non-swarming, without either natural or artificial 
swarms. 

Artificial swarming is described, because most bee- 
keepers wish an increase of bees, but if no increase be 
wanted, the colonies may be practically non-swarming. A 



strong colony with a prolific queen, in some seasons, may 
increase so rapidly that a double hive, even a triple hive 
would not contain them. It would be necessary then to 
separate or to " swarm " the colony. This process, how- 
ever, is so unlike natural swarming, that it is not worthy 
of the name of " swarming," therefore, the use of the term 
" non-swarming," if natural swarming be prevented, is not 
a misnomer. In two years, in an apiary of sixteen colonies 
one year, and twenty the other year, swarmed artificially, 
only three attempts were made to swarm. These were 
not successful and would not have been made if the hives 
had not stood in a sheltered place, where there was no 
movement of the air, and where, in July, the rays of the 
sun fell directly upon the hives. If the hives had stood in 
the shade, the attempt to swarm would not have been 
made. Again, in the same apiary, colonies not swarmed 
artificially, did not attempt to swarm, but were content with 
increased accommodations, and produced a large amount 
of honey. 

Fall Preparation. 

Preparation for the use' of the " Double-Hive, Non- 
Swarming System," should begin in the fall. The queen 
should be stimulated to lay as far towards winter as pos- 
sible, by feeding honey or sugar syrup. It is desirable 
that the queen should lay up to within twenty-one days 
of cold weather. That will give her eggs a chance to 
hatch before winter. This cannot be regulated with cer- 
tainty, but an approximation is possible. The object is to 



fill the hive with young workers, that may not only live 
through the winter, but also live to take the first flow of 
honey in the spring. This wealth of bees, with, of course, 
a corresponding wealth of winter stores, enables the colony 
to pass the winter in comfort, around what is to the bees 
a warming fire, — the fire or heat generated by their bodies 
in mass, and they come forth in the spring active and vig- 
orous. The hive is crowded, and in consequence of the 
presence of this immense household, the queen begins to 
lay earlier than she would if the bees were not in so large 
a force. The result is, that when honey comes in the 
spring, there is an army of bees, young and strong and 
ready to gather it. The bees, in winter, should remain on 
the summer stands, protected on the north and west by a 
wind break ; single wall hives are sufficient. The entrance 
should be left open, the width of the hive, but made so 
shallow that mice cannot enter. 

The half-story is an overflow chamber for compact nest- 
ing in cold weather. Pieces of hoops nailed to two cross 
pieces span the frames, leaving a three-inch space over the 
centre of the brood nest. Over the hoops are laid several 
thicknesses of burlap. Thrusting the hand on the burlap, 
next to the bees in the middle of winter, is like putting it 
under a sitting hen. There is a good fire there in the bees' 
sitting-room, and the table, just below them, is bountifully 
supplied. Why should they not be comfortable .? 

Spring Management. 

With colonies in the condition described, spring man- 
agement consists chiefly in letting them alone until the 



8 

time comes to make the first artificial swarms. They are 
so strong, the hives are so crowded, that the bee-keeper 
knows that the first run of honey will cause them to swarm. 
He prepares at once to stop the swarming fever, by arti- 
ficial swarming, and to arrange the colonies for the all 
summer harvest. When it is evident that the buds are 
nearly ready to burst forth into blossoms, the work begins. 
If the keeper wait till the full tide of honey comes, the 
bees in their crowded condition will swarm ; if they do not 
swarm, the manipulation during the flow is an interference 
and a hindrance. All work of preparation should be com- 
pleted before the bees begin the harvest, and then the 
bees should be let alone. 

From the centre of the brood nest is taken two frames 
of brood with the clinging bees. The frames removed are 
placed in a new hive and the hive carried to or near the 
place where it is to remain. Returning to the parent 
colony, two frames of foundation are inserted in thfe place 
of the two combs of brood and queen cells (if there be any), 
are cut out. The second story of the hive, another body 
like the brood chamber, is placed on top, and arranged as 
already described. The drone or queen trap is now at- 
tached to the entrance, and that colony is started on its 
season's work. Each of the ten colonies is prepared in' 
the same way. 

Artificial swarming, after the honey season begins, when 
the bees are busy gathering the crop, is accomplished in 
this way : Move the hive to one side, the width of the 
hive, or more ; place an empty hive, one body, where the 



one moved stood ; take off the second story of the hive con- 
taining the colony to be divided and place it on the empty 
body. If this be done, the work of the bees goes on with 
little interruption comparatively. The honey gatherers 
returning from the fields, entering the hive by the entrance 
in the second story, may not discover that the lower half 
of their home has been removed. At all events, the upper 
story in its usual place, catches the returning bees and at 
least keeps them away from the operator. The returning 
bees, are the mischief makers often, and if they be kept 
away, manipulation is quicker and easier. When the 
division is made, return the brood chamber to its former 
stand with the second story in place as before. 

The immediate effect of this method of artificial swarm- 
ing on the parent colony is one of confusion. The bees 
find their brood nest broken up, and two sheets of founda- 
tion in the centre. They find also an open chamber above 
into which they swarm eagerly for the brood nest was 
becoming crowded. Over the combs placed in the second 
story is poured a little honey, enough to.trickle across the 
empty combs, and drip on to the frames of brood. With a 
rush they follow up these honey streams to their source, 
gather it, explore, clean and repair. Swarming fever is 
checked by present events. The working space is doubled 
and a new life begins. Now comes the honey from the 
fields pouring in. Where shall the bees deposit it .'' The 
brood-chamber, except, perhaps, the outside combs, is full 
of brood and honey. The sheets of foundation are not yet 
ready, although drawn out enough, perhaps, a third of the 



lO 

length, for the queen to lay in, and she has begun to de- 
posit eggs in them. The honey must go to the second 
story, and there it goes. An entrance is made to the sec- 
ond story by boring an inch auger hole in the centre of 
that story and providing it with an alighting board. An 
alighting board for this entrance may be made by shaping 
a piece of shingle to resemble a broad shovel with a han- 
dle half an inch in length. Insert the handle in the auger 
hole and fasten it with a tack. The honey gatherers will 
use the upper entrance and the pollen gatherers usually 
the lower entrance. 

If the colonies were allowed to swarm naturally, there 
would be twenty in all, perhaps twenty to work early in 
the season, but none of them would be generally as strong 
as those prepared as described, and, moreover, the ten will 
gather more honey by this system than the twenty con- 
ducted in the ordinary way. Further, in the course of the 
season one colony at least is obtained from each of the ten 
colonies. Thus there is what is equivalent to the natural 
increase and more honey than the ten and their natural 
swarms would gather. 

In natural swarming, often the outgoing part of the 
colony is greater than the remaining. Indeed, many a 
colony has been left with so few bees that it was crippled," 
and practically worthless for the season. 

By this system of artificial swarming, the number of 
bees taken away is so small, compared with the whole 
number that there is practically no diminution of strength, 
and at the same time the regular, natural increase is se- 



II 



cured. The result of the operation of swarming, or rob- 
bing, appears to be stimulating rather than otherwise. 
The object is to keep the colony recruited to the utmost 
capacity of the hive, and when this is attained the problem 
is solved, for the bees diverted from swarming ; must gather 
honey if there be any, and as a matter of course must 
gather more than they could otherwise. 

When there is a quick run of honey, basswood, for ex- 
ample, the bees, where it is abundant, cannot get it all. 
What they gather must be snatched quickly. Then is the 
time when the big colony, a hundred thousand strong, 
shows its utility. The honey pours in in a steady stream. 
The greater the force of laborers the greater the product. 

The Nuclei or Artificial Swarms. 

When the ten colonies have been prepared as described, 
there are ten nuclei of two frames each, standing side by 
side, eacb marked with the number of the parent colony. 
They are marked in order that if too many bees return to 
the old colonies each may be recruited from its own. The 
young bees will remain, but many of the old bees will go 

back. 

As the nuclei are to raise their own queens, care must 
be taken that the frames removed contain unhatched eggs- 
If there be a queen cell, so much the better. If the swarm- 
ing be done before the middle of May, and it ought to be 
in the latitude of Southern New England, dependent, of 
course, upon the season, no queens can be obtained as 
soon as the nuclei would raise their own queens. The nu 



12 

clei are left undisturbed long enough to determine how 
many bees will remain. If not enough remain to cover the 
brood, one frame or more from the parent colony is held 
over the nucleus, and the bees are shaken or brushed into 
it. When the number of bees is sufficient, the ten nuclei 
are united at once into two full colonies of ten frames each- 

A nucleus should not be left ununited over night unless 
there are bees enough to cover the combs, and the night be 
warm ; but nights in May are often cool, and the brood, un- 
protected, may be chilled, and, therefore, the work of a day 
should be complete; that is to say, if only five colonies can 
be swarmed in a day, the swarms or nuclei should be united 
on the same day. 

The two full colonies, made of the nuclei, in proper time 
are treated like the original colonies. Before the first of 
July the nuclei taken from the colonies are united at once 
and become a part of the working force of the apiary. 
After the first of July the nuclei may be united imme- 
diately, or left till fall and united for the winter. In some 
seasons nuclei obtained after the first of July may be united 
and gather surplus honey before the season closes, but us- 
ually the ten original colonies and the earlier nuclei are the 
main dependence. 

Summer Management. 

During the summer the "let alone " method is followed 
as much as possible, and this is one of the attractive fea- 
tures of this system. The apiary may be left days, even 
weeks to itself, and generally the work goes on without a 



13 

hitch. This may not be considered the proper way to con- 
duct any industry, but the keeper is not the only factor in 
the apiary. The bees are doing the work. In any apiary 
the let-alone-system is not practiced as much as it ought to 
be. The keeper who is continually opening hives and in- 
terfering with the work of the occupants is like the man 
who pulls up corn to see if it be growing. 

No industry will run it'self, but the bees will attend to 
their work when the overseer, the keeper, is absent, as well 
as when he is presnt. If he must go away he knows that 
his bees will not run away without the queen, and he knows 
that the queen cannot get through the trap. 

Most of the artificial swarms are made before the first 
of July. Those made after this time are merely to relieve 
the colonies, if crowded, and to obtain the quota of in- 
crease. 

Three frames of brood and bees were taken from a colony 
about the first of July. At the same time a half-story was 
inserted between the brood chamber and the upper story, 
making the hive two stories and a half. The colony was 
not disturbed again till October, when eighty pounds of 
comb honey was taken from the colony, every section full 
and all capped except eight partly capped, in an outside 
tier. But this is not the best way to conduct an apiary 
where comb honey is the product. The honey should be 
removed as soon after it is capped as possible. It will be 
more attractive if removed before the bees run over and 
soil it. There can be no doubt that frequent removal of 
honey stimulates the bees. When they are stripped bare 



14 

of stores, they appear to be inspired anew with courage and 
energy. 

The first artificial swarming is made about the middle of 
May. Another may follow about the first of June, and an- 
other the middle of June. 

The condition of the colony may warrant the keeper in 
taking three frames from a colony, for it must be remem- 
bered that since the first or second swarming, a great num- 
ber of bees have been added to the colony, a much larger 
number than has been taken away ; or, he may decide that 
only one frame or none may be taken away, the object be- 
ing as stated several times, to keep the colonies recruited 
to the maximum capacity of the hive. 

To Take Out Honey. 

If the product be comb honey, and the honey-chamber 
be two half-stories, the work is simple and easy. Drive the 
bees below with a little smoke; take off the two half- 
stories ; place one-half story, with emjDty sections, over the 
brood chamber, place the other half-story on this and carry 
to the honey room the half-story removed. The bees that 
cling to it will return to the hive. If some of the sections 
are not filled or capped, do not return them to the hive 
from which they were taken, but place them in the empty 
crate, or half story, that is to be given to the next colony. 
Thus proceed throughout the apiary. 

With combs to be extracted more time is required. Some 
bee-keepers use the two half-stories instead of the whole 
story, and, of course, the shallow frame, but this plan re- 



15 

quires more time in handling and extracting. The second 
story might be removed and another put in its place, but it 
is too heavy and unwieldy to move quickly and easily. On 
a wheelbarrow in the rear of the colony are two or three 
bodies, or hives, each containing ten empty brood combs. 
From the colon}'' is taken the capped combs of honey and 
their places filled by empty combs. 

As some brace combs may be broken in taking out and 
a little honey be liberated, the combs placed in the hives in 
the wheelbarrow must be covered with a cloth while the 
operator is at work, to prevent robbing, especially if the 
bees are not at work on any particular crop. 

The keeper goes from hive to hive till his empty combs 
are exhausted, or until the bees, attracted by the honey, 
become too numerous, and then to the honey-room, to leave 
the frames of honey, to get more empty combs, or to ex- 
tract. 

The placing in a hive of empty combs from which the 
honey has just been extracted, must be done quickly, for 
they often drip with honey, and on some days it may not be 
possible to carry such combs through the apiary without 
attracting some bees. The odor of honey travels quickly 
in an apiary. But working quickly and on only a few hives 
at a time, there is little difficulty. 

A Bee Brush. 

The best bee-brush is made in this way : Gather green 
grass, a handful, tie in the centre, and then cut both ends 
even with the scissors. This brush irritates the bees less 
than any other, and is certainly the cheapest. 



i6 

Aids and Guides. 

The most skilful bee-keeper may not always trust exclu- 
sively to his own knowledge and experience. He is reas- 
sured and helped by reference to some authority. T/ie 
Beekeeper s Guide, by A. J. Cook, is a standard work, 
and makes labor in the apiary easier and more profitable. 
See second page of cover. 

The Apierican Bee Journal goes weekly to bee- 
keepers throughout the land with news, suggestions, re- 
ports of meetings, discoveries, experiments, and markets. 
It is a helpful visitor, and the cost of entertaining is less 
than two cents a week. See last page of cover. 

Dealers in bees and trees are aids also to apiculture. 
Mr. Sam W. Lewis supplies trees that produce honey, 
and also bees to gather it. See third page of cover. 



BOOKS FOR FARMERS. 

SILO AND SILAGE, 

By a. J. Cook. 

THIRD EDITION JUST OUT. 

Contains the latest and best on this greatest boon to the farmer. More 
than 20,000 sold in less than two years. This work is praised by such men as 
John Goui.n, Colonel Curtis, Profs. Shelton and Gullet, and Dr. E. C. 
Bessey. Price by mail, 25 cents. 



BEE-KEEPEB'S GUIDE. 

15,000 SOLD. 460 PAGES. 222 ILLUSTRATIOKS. 

Praised by Bee-Keepers in Every Civilized Country. 

The Science and Practice of Modern Bee-Keeping 
fully explained. 

EVERY BEE-KEEPER SHOULD HAVE IT. 

Price by mail, $1.50. 



Maple Sugar and the Sugar Bush. 

Very full and fully illustrated. The science and art as practiced in the 
author's excellent bush fully explained. The only work of the kind ever 
published. Price by mail, 40 cents. 



FOR SALE BY 



A. J. COOK, 

Agrict,ilttj.ral College, NIICHIQAN. 



SF 523 
.S7 
Copy 1 



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i;aiji> Mi..;<BEi 'liiii'syii'Mi Ilea !ieHiM'<i, □■ 



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The Bread and Butter Series, 



No. 2. 



APICULTURE : 



• • • T H ^2 • • • 






sten. 



By GEO. A. STOCKWELL, 

PROVIDENCE, R. I. 
• ♦♦ 

PRICE, 25 CEKTS. 



